Born to Become Heroes
by tehk1w1
Summary: Born to be different born to become heroes –forsaken by their parents, discriminated by their peers, and shunned by the world, a group of teenage Shinobi must learn to cope with their manifesting powers and survive in a world that despises their existence
1. Chapter 1

Born to Become Heroes  
By: tehk1w1

Summary:  
AU- Born to be different, born to be special, _born to become heroes_ –forsaken by their parents, discriminated by their peers, and shunned by the world, a group of teenage Shinobi must learn to cope with their manifesting powers and survive in a world that despises their existence. (Inspired by X-Men) 

**Arc One: Welcome to the World**  
Chapter One

Hyuga Hinata loathed these formal functions that her father forced her to attend. It was not the demure chorus of violins that bothered her, nor was it the bland tasting food that sat untouched on her plate that earned her ire –no it was everything else that annoyed the young heiress. The incredibly uncomfortable dress that she had to wear, the stiff, rigid code of formality that dictated her every action and the people –oh how she could not forget the _people –_was a constant annoyance to the teenage girl. 

It the last of these aggravations that really upset Hinata, truth be told. She could live with wearing a scratchy, tight, puffy dress every now and then, and she practiced the etiquette of a noble everyday with her private tutor, but the people, the arrogant, snobbish, but obnoxiously wealthy people, that Hinata could barely endure for even a night. Striking up a conversation was out of the question. In the rare event that one of the older nobles would take the time to speak with someone as young as herself, it was always about the same, boring things. Politics, the economy, the Shinobi epidemic, the economy –it was all they conversed about, and unfortunately, were all things Hinata needed no further opinion on. 

Of course there was no one else to talk to. The only other people in attendance were the noble's servants, but their sniveling, sycophantic nature was just as maddening. 

It probably explained why she was in the bathroom for the seventhtime in the last three hours since the party had started. People would begin to spread rumors she was obsessed with keeping her hands immaculate, or maybe she had an irregular bladder. Hinata could not care less. That was all the rich nobles did. Gossip and spread rumors to add a dash of excitement into their ordinarily drab life. 

She turned on the faucet and dashed some water on her face, hoping it might do something to alleviate her frustration. It didn't, but it had been worth a try.

A weary sigh escaped her lips. 

To make things even worst, her father was using this stupid party as a convenient excuse to find her a suitable husband. Hinata was sixteen now, and according to her father, the perfect age to begin courting the son's of other affluent families. Deep inside she knew her father loved her, but he disguised it well by using her as an instrument to further his ambitions. The union of the daughter of the prestigious Hyuga clan and another powerful family in Konoha would create a strong alliance, and when it came to the cut throat world of nobility, one needed all the friends possible.

Her father would be disappointed when they returned to their estate later that night. Hinata had tried to speak to some of the young men to appease her father's wishes; she honestly had regardless of her absolute abhorrence towards the idea of being wed, but to no avail. All the boys present were either as terrible as their fathers, or in one very awkward instance, was not predisposed towards the female sex. 

Even though Hinata had no wish to be married, her lack of success in finding even a potential suitor was somewhat demoralizing.

Hinata looked into the mirror and tried to smile. She was a pretty girl, wasn't she? She was young, in perfect shape with a slim body and a cute face. The winning combination had never failed to win her a date before, but then again, that was when she still attended public school where everyone was a commoner. But then her father had forced her to attend an affluent private school, academia for the rich and elite in Konoha. There, her dark blue hair –an uncommon but natural hair color- had earned her scorn and ridicule, and her indigo colored eyes had resulted in nothing but insults since her fast day at school. 

She hated everyone there, and though she would never tell her father, she desperately yearned to go back to regular school where everything had been so much easier.

The door opened behind her, and through the reflection in the bathroom mirror, Hinata saw two young, teenage girls walk in. They stopped when they saw Hinata standing at the sink and turned away, giggling amongst themselves as if their subtlety might disguise their rudeness. Hinata groaned and decided she had been better off outside in the dining hall. As much as she detested the adults and despised the boys, it was the daughters of the nobility whom she truly hated with a passion. 

Finally, Hinata could not take their annoying giggling any longer and snapped. "What?" she demanded. 

"Oh, Hinata," Said one of the girls. "We didn't see you there." 

Hinata glowered at the two girls, recognizing one of them as one of the most popular girls in her class. Her name was Megumi, and Hinata hated her the most.

Blonde and beautiful, Megumi was one of those brainless twits who used their looks, family connections, and willingness to sleep with anything that moved, to obtain what they wanted. She was also the primary reason why people made fun of Hinata at school. It was always Megumi who incited the rest of the class to pick on Hinata by constantly criticizing everything Hinata either said or did. It had gotten so bad lately that Hinata had flat out refused to speak anymore during class, which, naturally, only gave Megumi another reason to make fun of her.

"Maybe it's because she's so _quiet _all the time," suggested Megumi's cohort, and the two girls began giggling again. 

"Oh yes, very clever." Hinata said dryly. She rolled her eyes, but what she really wanted to do was punch the two girls in the face. Both of them talked nonstop during school about how badly they wanted to get cosmetic surgery done; Hinata figured a shattered nose bone would be an apt enough of an excuse. However, she forced herself to stoically endure their irritating giggling. Her father wanted her to act ladylike and find a husband, not create unrest by punching out the daughter of some rich, influential noble.

She turned away from the two girls and leaned over the sink, partially because she could not stand the sight of them any longer, but primarily because her head had begun to hurt. It was just a dull ache around her eyes, but the unexpected pain surprised Hinata. She turned on the faucet and splashed some water on her face again. 

"Say, Hinata," Megumi said. "Why didn't I see any boys eating at your table?"

"I know, seriously. We came with Takeda and his friends. They're _all _super cute and apart of the soccer team," added Megumi's friends. The two girls exchanged devious smiles. "Don't tell me you just came with your father." 

Hinata gritted her teeth and would have retorted with something nasty, but the pain in her head had just intensified. From a dull ache, the pain had evolved into a sharp, burning sensation that made her eyes feel like they were on fire. Hinata began to douse her face with water, hoping the cool water would extinguish the invisible flames. She forced herself to breathe slowly, trying her best not to panic. Something was definitely wrong. 

"You should try and talk with some of the boys." Megumi suggested with an evil smile. "There are tons of single guys here. Or were none of them interested in you?" 

The two girls sniggered and exchanged high-fives, congratulating each other on another successful put down on Hyuga Hinata. But Hinata was not paying attention. 

Fear gripped Hinata's body as the pain began radiate throughout her skull. She wanted to scream out in agony, to shout at the two girls to get help, but her body was no longer obeying any of her commands. A wave of intense nausea washed over her, and before she could stop herself, she violently vomited into the sink.

"Ew!" shrieked Megumi. "What's your problem, Hinata?"

"Hey, Hinata," said Megumi's friend. She nudged Megumi and whispered, "Hey, I think she might actually be really sick." 

"Who cares?" Megumi snorted indifferently. Curious, she peered around Hinata. "What the hell is the matter with-"

Megumi shrieked in horror and backed away from Hinata, jabbing her finger at her. "Her eyes!" she screamed. "Look at her eyes!" 

Terrified, Hinata looked at the mirror. Instantly, she began screaming too. Her eyes were different. The veins that surrounded them were bulging visibly, pulsating angrily as if filled to the brims with a live organism struggling to break free from the confines of her blood vessels, and her eyes themselves had mutated into a hideous shadow of their former beauty. Every trace of indigo in her eyes had drained away, leaving naught but an endless reservoir of pale, milky white. 

"No!" Hinata yelled. Her hands latched onto the sink's basin to steady herself, but the moment her hands touched it, the porcelain shattered. With a yelp of fear, Hinata jumped back as the shards cascaded onto the ground. 

"What's happening to me?" Hinata shouted. 

"I-I don't know!" stammered Megumi. 

Hinata looked around wildly, but her vision was completely messed up, no doubt the product of her eyes mutating. She could not see anything concrete anymore –anything tangible had become a transparent ghost that Hinata's eyes penetrated through like a knife. Even Megumi and her friend were no longer solid flesh, but a skeleton of bones surrounded by a mass of swirling veins and pumping organs.

Hinata took another step, but her foot caught on the hem of her dress, and she tripped towards Megumi. Involuntarily, her hand closed around Megumi's arm to catch her fall. 

The last thing Hinata saw in Megumi's eyes were confusion. And then all hell broke loose.

A blood curdling scream resounded throughout the bathroom and into the banquet hall beyond. Hinata glanced at Megumi's arm just in time to see every single vein beneath the girl's skin rip apart. A geyser of blood erupted from Megumi's arm, spurting through the air and showering the bathroom in a thick mist of red. 

"Megumi!" Hinata spluttered as a torrent of blood splashed across her face. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean –"

"Get away from her!" Megumi's friend shrieked. "Stay away from us you monster! You're one of them! Y-y-you Shinobi!" 

"N-no I'm not!" protested Hinata. She wanted to say more in her defense, but just then the bathroom doors were thrown open and a flood of frantic nobles streamed in. 

Hinata spent the remainder of the evening curled up into a ball in the corner of the bathroom. Her beautiful dress soaked in her classmate's blood, she wept. She was scared; terrified at what she had done and the monster she had become. What had happened? Was she dreaming? Was this some sort of nightmare that she would awaken from? 

_Please wake up. Please wake up. _Hinata begged. But nothing happened. When her eyes opened, she was still in the bathroom, observing the doctors as they put Megumi on a stretcher and wheeled her away. She also noticed some of the nobles who were standing nearby, whispering amongst themselves and periodically casting a dark glance in Hinata's general direction.

Amidst the murmured whispers, the word "Shinobi" could be heard several times.

_How could this be happening to me? _Hinata wondered. How could she, the heiress to the might Hyuga clan, be a Shinobi?

She did not know what was going to happen next, and this frightened her more than anything else. Was she going to be put in prison for hurting Megumi? Or would she become an outcast, shunned by society like all the freaks and genetic mishaps, the Shinobi, that filled the evening news?

Because that was what she was, the exact thing Megumi had called her: a freak. 

And what about Megumi? Would she live? As much as Hinata hated the girl and wanted to hurt her, she never, ever meant to kill her. Hinata began to cry again as the severity of what she had done began to seep in. She had killed Megumi. She had to have. There was so much blood everywhere…Hinata did not even think a normal human had _that much _blood. 

_Please, please, let me wake up from this nightmare._

"Hinata?"

Hinata knew that voice and it did little to comfort her. In fact, it just made her feel worst. She looked up as her father approached. His face was cold and severe. Just like it always was. No hint of compassion, no sign of any sympathy or parental concern. Not even any surprise that his daughter's eyes now looked like something out of a horror film. 

No, the only thing visible on Hyuga Hiashi's face was disappointment. That was what Hinata was to him: one massive disappointment. Already, Hinata could see the gears in her father's head hard at work trying to find a way to make the best out of this travesty. Because in the end, that was all that mattered to Hyuga Hiashi: himself. 

"Get up." Hiashi snapped. "We're going home."

* * *

Author's Notes:  
First chapter of a brand new project I'm working on. I love Naruto, and I love X-Men, so I guess this could be best described as a hybrid of the two. Want to see how everything plays out? Make sure you check back next chapter. Oh and be sure to review. Thanks guys. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Born to Become Heroes**  
By: tehk1w1

Summary:  
AU- Born to be different, born to be special, _born to become heroes_ –forsaken by their parents, discriminated by their peers, and hated by everyone else, a group of teenagers must learn to cope with the powers they were born with and survive in a world that shuns their existence. (Inspired by X-Men)

Arc One: Welcome to the World  
Chapter Two

Panting and wheezing, Hinata stopped to rest for a moment. She was reluctant to remain idle for even a second, but there was no denying the dryness of her throat or the cramp in her legs. She leaned against a nearby cement column, letting the cool stone caress her sweaty skin, but a second later she pulled herself away and began running again. She was careful to stick to the shadows that the network of elevated railroads in the urbanized sectors of Konoha provided, and even more cautious to avoid any passing cars on the road that even slightly resembled a police car. Glancing both ways to ensure no one was watching, she ran down a nearby alleyway and vaulted over a fence at the end.

She grimaced as a sharp pain erupted in her foot when she landed on the other side. Normally, a simple jump like that would not have been a problem. Hinata used to be apart of her old school's track and gymnast team until her father pulled her out. Even since then, though, she worked out regularly, but nothing could have prepared her for this marathon. After several hours of running, her legs felt like jelly.

The prospect of being caught by the police, or worst, shot by some anti-Shinobi radical helped her ignore the pain, but there was only so much the body could take, and Hinata was certainly pushing the limits. She wanted more than anything to huddle into a ball and fall asleep, if only for an hour, but she knew she could not. If some street thug did not stumble across her and murder her in her sleep, Konoha's vigilant security forces would certainly catch her before she awoke.

It was ironic that the very security Hinata had always sought to protect her from the vagrants of society was now her greatest enemy. Tragically ironic, perhaps, but the irony was still present even though it almost made Hinata cry to think about it.

Hinata hoped her disguise would help her blend in with the other street urchins that littered the streets of Konoha. Gone were the elaborate dresses, the expensive jewelry, and the superfluous hairstyle and ostentatious makeup. Instead, Hinata was now garbed in commoner clothes that she had stolen from one of her maids, and her normally long hair now extended no further than her ears. It looked terrible of course, ragged and grungy, but that was what happened when you tried to cut your own hair in less than five minutes with a small makeup mirror and a dull pair of scissors.

She kept running. Where she was running she still had no idea. Somewhere. Anywhere away from Konoha really. All she knew was she had to get away from the city and fast. It was too dangerous to hire a taxi when a driver could easily identify her, and to use an airship required photographic identification. All of Konoha was probably out searching for her; the last thing Hinata wanted was to make their job any easier.

As Hinata ran, her stomach growled loud enough to make her pause. She groaned. She was tired _and _hungry now. Her wallet was pretty much empty save for a few bills and coins she had scraped together seconds before dashing out her bedroom window. Most of her considerable wealth was sitting in her private bank account, and there was no way of accessing that now. Hinata frowned and rubbed her stomach, trying to assuage the pain.

Not for the first time Hinata thought about turning herself in, but the horrific thoughts of what the police might do to a Shinobi like herself automatically erased any inclination to do so. She was better off starving to death on the streets rather than being tortured to death in a small cage.

_Why did this have to happen to me? _Hinata thought bitterly.

She was one of them now: a Shinobi. For a few hours following the catastrophe at her father's dinner party, Hinata had tried to deny the obvious truth. Maybe it had been something else. Maybe there was some scientific explanation as to why her eyes had gone berserk and her very touch caused people's skin to explode in clouds of blood. There was none of course. The grim, tragic truth had slowly dawned on the young girl as she wept silently into her pillow earlier that night. The only thing that explained tonight was that Hyuga Hinata, heir to the vast fortunes of the Hyuga estate, was a Shinobi.

_Shinobi. _

It was a dirty word that society used to describe the handful of people who possessed strange powers. Some were rumored to be able to phase through walls, others could manipulate shadows, while some could even control bugs. Either way, the people of Konoha did not tolerate their existence. They were freaks of nature and deserved to be treated as such. Shinobi were _not _human and thus were not guaranteed the same rights humans did. They were abnormal, genetic defects and a living offense to the gods.

When found, it was rumored a Shinobi was summarily hauled off to camps to be studied. Or in some cases, groups of mercenaries working on commission from the government would just kill any they came across. Maybe the latter two were just urban legends meant to instill even further fear of the Shinobi into the common man, but Hinata knew the oppression of the Shinobi was very real. She knew this because up until tonight, she had hated the Shinobi too. The existence of Shinobi, Hinata had believed, was a persistent danger to society, and they should be isolated for the good of everyone else.

And maybe Hinata had been right all along. After all, had she not almost managed to murder a young girl with her new found powers?

_Almost _murdered, thank goodness.

Megumi was not dead. Hinata had been relieved to find that out when a police captain whom her father was friendly with stopped by to chat. It turned out that while Megumi was expected to recover from her severe wounds, her family wanted "the Shinobi scum" to be arrested and prosecuted for attempted murder on a noble.

"I'm sure I can persuade you to drop these charges," Hiashi had said, reaching for his wallet.

  
But the captain had waved her father off. "I'm sorry, Hiashi. There's nothing I can do this time. The commissioner himself wants your daughter to be made an example of. To make it look like Konoha is really trying to crack down on our Shinobi problem."

"So you're here to arrest my daughter?"

The captain had shaken his head. "No, the warrant doesn't go into effect for another two hours. I just thought that I should give you the details in person. I'll be back to collect her later."

Her father had said nothing.

"If you're interested in continuing to do business here in Konoha," the captain had said as he shook hands with Hiashi, "I would consider distancing yourself away from the Shinobi, even if she is your daughter. You have another child. You might want to start grooming her as your heir instead."

No sooner had the police captain left; Hinata had set her hastily conceived plan into motion. Grabbing what few belongings she could assemble and tossing them into a rucksack, she had grabbed her maid's clothes and without a word of goodbye to her little sister or her father, had snuck out the window. Her home was no longer safe, nor was the homes of any of her relatives. The police would search there first, and if her aunts and uncles were anything like her father, there was no guaranteeing they would not give up their Shinobi niece to the police.

Hinata came across a street and made a left. Down that way, the buildings became fewer and further apart, possibly indicative that Hinata was leaving the industrialized heart of the city and nearing the rural countryside. Too tired to think straight, she started down the road, completely oblivious to the gang signs emblazoned on the side of every building that lined the street. Hinata was not dumb –she knew better than to wander into gang territory where most men, never mind a small, innocent female like herself, were smart enough to steer clear of –but making wise, well thought out decisions was definitely _not _one of Hinata's strong suits today.

It did not take long for a lone, diminutive female to be noticed by the city's denizens. They crawled out of the buildings and onto the streets like termites swarming out of the woodwork, and where had been an open, abandoned street only minutes before, was now literally an army of shady looking men barring Hinata's path. The young girl hesitated, suddenly realizing that she had made a terrible mistake.

They smiled at Hinata, their lecherous eyes exploring her body. They were all young, very few of them any older than Hinata herself. They were all garbed in rags, their skin redolent with metal piercing and tattoos that screamed profanities at whoever gazed upon them. A few of them wielded baseball bats, a number of them small pocket knifes, but it was the glimmer of a gun or two amongst them that really caught Hinata's attention.

"It looks like this road is closed," Hinata said, smiling nervously. "I think I'll find another way around."

"Oh it's open," said one of the thugs. He was bigger than the rest, muscular with a patch where his left eye should be. "But you need to pay a toll to pass."

Hinata did not bother to humor the cliché highwayman, and instead turned and sprinted in the opposite direction as fast as she could. She was a fast runner, a lot faster than these scrubs at any rate. 

Unfortunately, she had not accounted for the two thugs who had surreptitiously snuck behind her. The moment she turned around, one grabbed her by the wrist, while the other backhanded her viciously across the face.

Hinata cried out in pain and fell on the floor, tasting blood from her split lip. Quickly, she scrambled back to her feet. "Get away from me!" she screamed.

The mob only sniggered at her plaintive cries.

"I'm a noble!" Hinata shouted. "The police will never stand for it if you harm me."

The leader of the gang snorted. "Look at who you're talking to, sweetie. We hate the nobles and the police."

Hinata gritted her teeth. Completely out of choices, she resorted to desperation.

"I'm a Shinobi!" she yelled. This, much to her surprise, actually made the gang stop in their tracks. Emboldened by her small success, she continued. "That's right! I'm a Shinobi and if you get near me, I'll be forced to hurt you…badly!"

The gang leader looked at Hinata with his one good eye for a long moment. Then he started laughing, a booming, guffawing that echoed ominously in the quiet streets. The rest of the gang joined their boss, and their raucous laughter filled Hinata with dread.

"Perfect!" the gang leader said. "Now after we're done with you, we don't even need to dispose of the body! We'll turn it in for a reward!"

With the option of running unavailable, Hinata went with her last remaining choice. The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt anyone, but if these thugs wanted to end up like Megumi, that was their business. Lunging forward, Hinata threw a wild punch at the leader of the thugs. It caught him by surprise, and her fist managed to connect solidly with his stomach.

Only...nothing happened. The thug grunted, but that was about it. No explosion of flesh. No torrential blood spurting on the concrete. Confused, Hinata looked meekly up at the thug she had hit and smiled wryly as if to say, "oops."

Where were her powers? While her eyes were still pale milky white, her vision had returned to normal hours earlier after her father had hauled her home, and it seemed as if her deadly touch had faded as well. What could this mean? Was the manifestation of her powers some sort of freak, one time occurrence that might mean Hinata was not a Shinobi after all?

Hinata groaned in dismay. It was irrelevant anyway. She highly doubted that she would live long enough for it to make a difference anyway.

He stepped forward and grabbed Hinata. She squealed and tried to wriggle out of his grip, but his arms were like an iron vice. With a contemptuous laugh at Hinata's inane attempt at escape, the gangster pulled her tightly against him licked the side of the young girl's face.

Hinata closed her eyes and tried not to vomit in disgust as she felt her flesh being saturated in the man's foul saliva. Somehow, when she had awoken this morning, she had not thought the day would end with her being raped and murdered. It was funny how life played nasty little tricks on you like that.

"You taste pretty," the man whispered in her ear. The rancid stench of his breath was enough to make Hinata gag. "Good enough to eat."

"Hey Zed," shouted one of the other gangsters. "Stop messing around and do her! The rest of us want a turn too!"

Zed nodded. A vicious punch to her stomach knocked the wind out of Hinata, and a shove sent her sprawling onto the cold concrete. The one-eyed thug towered over her, lust shimmering in his one visible eye as he fumbled to take off his belt.

"Hey asshole!" a voice shouted out from the shadows. "Keep your pants on!"

Startled, Zed looked up. A flash of light ripped through the darkness, a shimmer of motion barely visible against the backdrop of night, and suddenly, a small throwing knife plunged into Zed's eye. The gang leader did not even have a chance to scream in pain before he pitched backwards onto the ground, his legs twitching as death claimed him.

"What the hell happened?" one of the gangsters yelled. "Who the fu-" But before he could finish, a thin knife erupted from his throat, ending his sentence in a bloody gurgle as he fell to his knees.

"Someone is out there!"

"Shoot them! Shoot them!"

One of the thugs holding a gun raised his weapon, but before he could pull the trigger, a scythe soared through the air and chopped the man's hand clean off. He fell on his back, screaming as blood pumped ferociously from his severed limb.

"Where are they coming from?"

"Kill them, kill them!"

From the same shadows that the gangsters had appeared from, now came a new group of strangers. However, unlike the thugs depraved appearance, the new comers were adorned in simple, formless, black robes and blank white masks. If it were not for the fact that each of them was holding small knives similar to the ones that had just killed two of the thugs, Hinata would have thought of them as a lost troop of roaming mimes.

There were only six of them against the eighteen remaining thugs, but the advantage was clearly in favor of the masked new comers. While the thugs charged in mindlessly, tossing wild punches and hacking away mindlessly with their knives, Hinata's saviors fought with a clear plan in mind. They fought in tandem with one another, attacking, defending, and moving in collaboration with their comrades. Their movements were so smooth, so fluid and graceful that it appeared as if their fighting was one choreographed dance.

One of the thugs swung his bat at one of the masked warriors, but before it could connect, one of the other robed fighters grabbed the man from behind. Though the thug was at least twice as large as his opponent, the newcomer had no problem with tossing several feet into the air, right into the side of a nearby building. The two fighters exchanged fist taps, and then immediately leaped back into the fray.

The battle was fierce but short lived. Not only did the newcomers work as a team, but each was obviously a skilled martial artist and well versed in fighting numerous opponents simultaneously. Even when cornered by a group of the gang members, a single of the masked fighters could easily hold their own until assistance could reach them. At the same time, from the shadows, a barrage of knives kept taking down thug after thug with deadly precision.

Hinata could only lie there on the ground, scarcely able to believe her eyes. For a fleeting moment she felt as if she should rush in to help. After all, maybe her mysterious powers had reawakened, and she could finally prove herself to be something other than a burden.

But the fighter was over moments later. The gangsters, with most of their numbers severely wounded or already lying dead or dying on the floor, decided it was finally time to leave.

"You haven't heard the last of us!" one of them vowed as his comrades turned and fled back into the shadows. "We'll be back!"

Much to Hinata's surprise, her saviors did not pursue them. Given the ruthlessness of their attack, she had thought they would've hunted all of those sick bastards down and killed them. Perhaps, even, she had hoped they would.

She tried to stand, but her legs were shaking too hard them to support herself.

"Don't try to stand, just relax." one of the masked men said gently. He leaned down beside Hinata and gently propped her up so her head was resting in his lap. "Did they hurt you?"

Hinata shook her head and was about to answer when something peculiar happened. The same sharp pain from earlier that night erupted in her head, blinding her in a searing stab of white light. She could feel the tendons in her eyes tensing, bulging inside her skull, and frantically, knowing what might happen next, she pushed the man away from her.

"Holy shit!" yelled the man. "Sakura, get up here! She's bugging out!"

"P-please get away from me!" Hinata screamed. "I'm going to hurt you!"

"You're not going to hurt me," a soft feminine voice reassured her. "Just try to relax."

_Relax?_ Thought Hinata hysterically. _How?_ It felt like a million sharp knives were being stabbed into her eyes.

"This should help," the voice said. A cool, calming hand touched Hinata's brow, and instantly, the pain abated. The white light faded, and her vision was restored.

"Does your head still hurt?"

Hinata smiled gratefully and tried to say 'yes', but the only thing she found herself capable of doing was to suddenly lurch forward and throw up all over her healer.

"Goddammit," Hinata heard the female voice say, but the voice sounded so distant, so far away. Swooning from exhaustion and hunger, it was only a matter of time before her body had its revenge on Hinata for her abuse. A veil of darkness was slowly descending over her eyes, and before she knew it, her head pitched backwards into the waiting arms of her rescuers.

And then was nothing but darkness.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Hope you guys enjoyed it! I usually try to update once every two weeks or so, but with life so demanding, don't be surprised if a new chapter gets delayed every now and then! Thanks for those of you who reviewed last chapter! Make sure you drop a word or two telling me what you like/don't like. I'm only going to keep writing if I think people are still reading. Thanks guys!


End file.
